Sunrise Lowers Tax Increase Slightly As Residents Complain

SUNRISE -- City Manager Dale Sugerman scaled back the property-tax increase on Wednesday from 18.4 percent to 17 percent after a dozen residents complained.

During the final hearing on the $29.4 million budget, council members unanimously approved lowering the tax rate from $5.15 per $1,000 of assessed property value to $5.09 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

The final rate will give the city less money, but Sugerman said he would make up the difference by using $100,000 from a $6 million surplus fund.

When Sugerman first released the budget in August, he had proposed a 34 percent tax increase.

The new rate means the owner of a $100,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption will pay $381.75 in city taxes, about $55 more than this year. That bill does not include taxes to be paid for schools, county government and hospitals.

Residents complained that the city budget had too much fat and that the original increase presented a hardship for a resident living on a fixed income.